Syndicate: **Rewind to the Future**

[Inke Arns <inke@berlin.snafu.de>]

Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1999 22:05:25 +0100 (MET)
From: Petra Unnuetzer <Petra.Unnuetzer@gmd.de>


Dear friends and colleagues,

I would like to invite everybody who is interested in 
video/media art for the opening of


**Rewind to the Future**
at the Bonner Kunstverein, Hochstadenring 22 in Bonn

on Tuesday Nov. 30th 1999

						

With "Rewind to the Future" we present an exhibition that reflects
important stages of using technological media in the arts in the historical
context of our current century. It will be combined with a critical
reflection of the most important contributions for the coming millennium.

   We had two reasons for setting up an historical exhibition with a focus
to the future.

1. After having organized the ?Videonale" several times in the ?Bonner
Kunstverein" it seems only appropriate to present an exhibition
concentrated on essential stages of the use of technological media in the
arts. The Videonale Bonn was founded in 1984 as the first international
festival for video art in Germany by Petra Unnützer together with Dieter
Daniels and Bärbel Moser and takes place in the ?Bonner Kunstverein" since
1988.

2. Facing a steady growing technological input in the arts - meanwhile
computer and internet have joined the medium video, that dominated for
decades -, it seems even more important to come up with a critical
selection that is not promoting playing with technology but looking for
formally and content wise relevant art.
By taking that position the exhibition wants to start an intensive
discussion about the relation of technical versus creative potential in
current art. It will also try to show perspectives for the coming millennium.

   It is also based on the idea, that after the set up of media centers at
German academies and abroad we have to come up with clear criteria through
an explicit selection from the by now overflowing production. Otherwise an
noticeable insecurity in using artistic tools that is connected to
increasing use of innovative media could result in weaker artistic
expression. Technological media will play a leading role in the future,
that is for sure. Considering the interweaving of artistic production and
changes in society, it seems even more important to develop such criteria.

   With the exhibition we try to make that clear by selecting artists
according to artistically and socially relevant criteria. Basis for
choosing the art works is an overall principle of ?modesty", that shows
that especially when dealing with technological media concentration on the
artistic, content related formulation of questions is more important than
use of possible and/or latest technology.

   On this basis the aspects mentioned above as the historic processing and
the relevance for the future are relevant concerning the content. By
avoiding the chronological order for the exhibition display we want to show
to what extent the formulation of artistic questions of the last 50 years
and the future (re)appear in regular intervals. At the same time they find
differently articulated artistic formulations through variable moments of
experience with the social environment. This is also due to both main
aspects, namely the approach of concentrating on medial form and
articulating the content. From this viewpoint it seems reasonable that
single leading figures like Nam June Paik and Bruce Naumann appear at
different interfaces of the exhibition. 


I. History from the Sixties to the Eighties

1. Discovery of the Medium from the Competition with Television
    Nam June Paik
    Peter Campus
    Dan Graham
    Shigeko Kubota
    Reiner Ruthenbeck

2. The Medium as Mirror of Oneself 
    or the Discovery of the Individual as Media-Protagonist
    Dara Birnbaum
    Ulrike Rosenbach
    Nan Hoover
    Bruce Naumann
    Gary Hill
    Bill Viola

3. Social Aspects or the Competition with the Message of Television 
    Marcel Odenbach
    Klaus vom Bruch
    Ingo Günther
    Romana Scheffknecht

II. The Nineties with Reference for the Coming Millenium

1. From the Exemplary Individual to the Individual Subject 
    Luc Courchesne
    Tony Oursler
    Rosemarie Trockel
    Gillian Wearing
    Felix-Stephan Huber/Philip Pocock 

2. Film/Fiction - Recycling as Discovery
    Eija-Liisa Ahtila
    Stan Douglas
    Douglas Gordon

3. Working in Abundance of Technology - Exploitation or Reduction
    JODI
    Dieter Kiessling
    Jordan Crandall
    Marko Peljhan

curated by Dr. Annelie Pohlen and Petra Unnützer

The exhibition is a collaboration with the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein
(14.1.-20.2.2000)

With the support of Stiftung Kunst und Kultur in NRW,
Ministerium für Arbeit, Soziales und Stadentwicklung, Kultur und Sport des
Landes NRW,
Kunstfonds e.V., Bonn,
der Bundesstadt Bonn,
der Deutschen Telekom
and GMD Forschungszentrum Informationstechnik GmbH


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